Printing media loading apparatus

ABSTRACT

A printing media loading apparatus includes a roller that has a narrow slit thereon and is used for loading a printing media. There are two nicks respectively on the two sides of the roller, and the narrow slit extends to the two nicks. The printing media loading apparatus further includes at least a detachable fixing unit, installed in a nick on one of the two sides of the roller for fixing the diameter of the roller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a printing media loading apparatus, andmore particularly, to a printing media loading apparatus that has aroller having a narrow slit thereon for loading a printing media.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the present market, commercial photo printers usually use roller typephoto papers, in which the photo paper to be printed is rolled onto theroller layer by layer. When transporting the roller type photo paper,the shapes of the photo paper and the roller will change asenvironmental factors (e.g., temperature or moisture) change. Since therespective coefficients of expansion of the photo paper and the rollerare different from each other, the degree of shape change of the photopaper and the roller will be not the same. Accordingly, the inner layersof the rolled photo paper that are closest to the roller will incurdents (compressed marks) caused by the start of the photo paper, andthese dents will decrease the quality of the printed photos.Conventionally, the photo paper is discarded when it incurs dents, andmore photo paper is prepared, to solve the abovementioned problem. Thecost of preparing more paper can be high. Thus, preventing the innerlayers of the rolled photo paper from incurring dents while notincreasing the cost of the paper is an urgent problem in this field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore one of the objectives of the present invention toprovide a printing media loading apparatus whose roller for loading aprinting media has a narrow slit thereon, to resolve the above-mentionedproblem.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, aprinting media loading apparatus is disclosed. The printing medialoading apparatus comprises a roller, which is for loading a printingmedia, wherein the roller comprises a narrow slit thereon.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded diagram illustrating a printing media loadingapparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating that a detachable fixing unit isinstalled on a roller for the printing media loading apparatus shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detailed schematic diagram illustrating the detachablefixing unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a detailed schematic diagram illustrating how the detachablefixing unit is installed on the roller shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a protrusion of a detachablefixing unit of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another exemplary diagram illustrating a protrusion of adetachable fixing unit of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a detachable fixing unit according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a printing media loading apparatusaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claimsto refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names.This document does not intend to distinguish between components thatdiffer in name but not function. In the following description and in theclaims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-endedfashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but notlimited to . . . ”.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is an exploded diagram illustrating aprinting media loading apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing media loadingapparatus 100 includes a roller 110 for loading a printing media, suchas photo paper. The roller 110 includes a narrow slit 112 thereon. Inthis embodiment, the narrow slit 112 extends to the two sides of theroller 110 along an axial direction of the roller 110; however, this isnot a limitation of the prevent invention. In another embodiment of thepresent invention, the narrow slit 112 can extend to the two sides ofthe roller 110 along any directions. When the roller 110 expands andchanges shape as the environment changes, for example, when thetemperature rises, and the roller 110 is rolled with a printing media(e.g., photo paper), the roller 110 rolled with the printing mediasubstantially expands towards the narrow slit 112 (direction A shown inFIG. 1) instead of from inside to outside (direction B shown in FIG. 1).Accordingly, the inner layers of the rolled photo paper that are closestto the roller 110 will not easily incur dents (compressed marks) causedby the start of the photo paper.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the embodiment of the printing media loadingapparatus 100, there are two nicks 114 respectively on the two sides ofthe roller 110, and the narrow slit 112 extends to the two nicks 114. Inaddition, the printing media loading apparatus 100 further includes twodetachable fixing units 120. When the printing media (e.g., photo paper)is intended to be rolled on the roller 110, the fixing units 120 can beinstalled in nicks 114 on the two sides of the roller 110 respectivelyin order to fix the diameter of the roller 110 (as shown in FIG. 2).When the printing media has been completely rolled on the roller 110,the fixing units 120 can be detached from the roller 110 to ensure thatthe inner layers of the printing media will not incur dents (compressedmarks) during transportation.

Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a detailed schematic diagramillustrating the detachable fixing unit 120 shown in FIG. 1. In thisembodiment, there are two omega (Ω) shaped protrusions 122 on two sidesof the fixing unit 120. The omega-shaped protrusions 122 can match thenick 114 on the side of the roller 110 to fix the diameter of the roller110 (as shown in FIG. 4). In addition, the detachable fixing unit 120further includes a detaching hole 124, which can help detach the fixingunit 120 from the roller 110.

Please note that the fixing units 120 are not limited to be installed onthe roller 110 to fix the roller 110's diameter by means of theomega-shaped protrusions 122 in the present invention. In other words,the fixing units 120 can be installed on the roller 110 to fix thediameter of the roller 110 by any means. Take FIG. 5 for example, whichis an exemplary diagram illustrating a protrusion of a detachable fixingunit of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the fixing units 520are installed on the roller 510 to fix the roller 510's diameter bymeans of the C-shaped protrusions 522. Take FIG. 6 for another example,which is another exemplary diagram illustrating a protrusion of adetachable fixing unit of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, thefixing units 620 are installed on the roller 610 to fix the roller 610'sdiameter by means of the T-shaped protrusions 622. In another embodimentof the present invention, the printing media loading may only compriseone detachable fixing unit that is disposed in the narrow slit 112 onthe roller 210. Take FIG. 7 for example, which is a diagram illustratinga detachable fixing unit according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 7, the printing media loading apparatus 700comprises only a detachable fixing unit 720, which is disposed in thenarrow slit 712 and nicks 714 to fix the roller 710's diameter. Inaddition, in the present invention, the fixing units 120 are optionalunits. In other words, in other embodiments of the present invention,the printing media loading apparatus 100 does not include any fixingunits but is still able to ensure that the inner layers of the printingmedia will not incur dents (compressed marks) during transportation.Take FIG. 8 for example, which is a diagram illustrating a printingmedia loading apparatus according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 8, the narrow slit 812 of the printing medialoading apparatus 800 does not go through the surface of the roller 810,so there is no requirement for a detachable fixing unit to fix theroller 810's diameter.

Compared with the prior art, the printing media loading apparatus of thepresent invention utilizes the formation of a narrow slit on the rollerto solve the problem of the inner layers of the rolled paper incurringdents (compressed marks), and does not increase the cost of the paper.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention.

1. A printing media loading apparatus, comprising: a roller, for loadinga printing media; wherein the roller comprises a narrow slit thereon. 2.The printing media loading apparatus of claim 1, wherein the narrow slitextends to two sides of the roller.
 3. The printing media loadingapparatus of claim 2, further comprising: a detachable fixing unit,installed in the narrow slit on the roller for fixing the diameter ofthe roller.
 4. The printing media loading apparatus of claim 2, whereinthere are two nicks respectively on the two sides of the roller, thenarrow slit extends to the two nicks, and the printing media loadingapparatus further comprises: at least a detachable fixing unit,installed in a nick on one of the two sides of the roller for fixing thediameter of the roller.
 5. The printing media loading apparatus of claim4, wherein there are two omega-shaped, C-shaped or T-shaped protrusionson two sides of the detachable fixing unit, and the two protrusionsmatch the nick on one side of the roller.
 6. The printing media loadingapparatus of claim 4, wherein the detachable fixing unit comprises adetaching hole.
 7. The printing media loading apparatus of claim 2,wherein the narrow slit extends along an axial direction of the roller.8. The printing media loading apparatus of claim 1, being a photo paperloading apparatus.